Social media can be very daunting and companies may even feel like they don't know where to start. From blogs, articles, reports, research and professionals saying that companies should "engage", "be transparent", "be authentic", or should even "be a part of the conversation", it can be a bit of a mess. But after wading through all the advice and chatter, you're going to need to formulate your own plan. So where do you begin the process? Social media marketing people will tell you different things. Some may tell you to start off with a blog, while others may suggest being on Twitter or even setting up a fan page on Facebook. But in the end, there's no hard & fast rule for what YOU should do. Your company needs to figure out what best will work for your team, and for small businesses, this can be pretty tricky - so what solutions await you? You need to come up with a social media plan- an outline that will help establish a framework for YOUR company based on your objective, including the tools that you think would be best to have.

To help businesses create this framework, you're going to need some guidance. So what better way than by using the Social Marketing Compass by Brian Solis, author of the book Engage? According to Solis, the Social Marketing Compass is "inspired" by the moral compass - it's designed to serve as our value system when we're also defining our program activities. In fact, Solis created the Compass as a means to help brands find their direction to genuinely and effectively connect with their audience online.

So how does one use the Social Marketing Compass? It's broken up into several sections: the brand, the players, platform, channels and emotions. And while at first glance you think that this Compass looks static, I think it should be taken in as a concept, not as a literal compass. The idea behind the Compass is that you have multiple options and directions in front of you, just like a regular compass, so Solis's Compass will now help guide you - thereby changing your direction virtually and symbolically, not literally.

So let's start off with the main focus of the Social Marketing Compass: the brand. After all, if you're using the Compass to help you create your social media campaign strategy, then it's probably smart to have the Compass help guide you and the brand, not your customers. Solis is right when he says in his book Engage that everything you do will revolve around it.

In the next circle of the Compass, the brand will need to figure out the players involved in the social marketing. These people are the folks who will define the "how", "when", "why" and "what" you'll be doing and include the following types of people:

• Advocates
• Traditional media
• Influencers
• Bloggers
• Tastemakers (aka "trendsetters")

Once you and/or the brand has figured out who you'll be reaching out to (the "target audience"), you're going to move forward to look at the types of platforms that you should include. These platforms basically represents the tools and technology available to us today to conduct outreach:

• Mobile
• Social dashboards/miccrosites
• Widgets
• Forums
• Blogs
• Social networks
• Content creation
• Events
• Microcommunities

Moving forward, after defining targets and how you're going to reach them, brands need to know that channels should be defined to help spread the company's mission through words, videos, pictures, audio and other methods. Solis believes that these channels will allow businesses to essentially "amplify" their message while increasing their ability to pass along their news and marketing efforts, along with extending the brand. The Compass defines these channels as:

• Aggregators - pulling information from multiple sources and consolidating it into one stream, microsite or feed.
• Crowd-sourced tools - funneling the information gathered from a targeted group.
• Curation tools - using targeted sources and pushing that content through different accounts.
• Search engine optimization (SEO) - increasing the visibility of content, sites and destinations.
• Promotion - finding a way to help make your message become viral.
• Syndication - taking your social object from one account and broadcasting it to many accounts simultaneously.
• Social media optimization - optimizing your social objects on various networks to increase the chances of being found.
• Participation/engagement - Solis believes that the "unmarketing" approach will help generate more interest than through promotion.
• Portability - the ability to make it easier for users to transport these social objects. Once this is done, then people will begin to leverage it, thereby creating more exposure for the brand.
• Content streams - taking the different feeds and then placing it into specific channels and offering multiple touch points.
• User-generated content - by showing your customers that they can participate, it's empowering to them to support your brand.

The last ring of the Social Marketing Compass is the emotions associated with people. As you can tell, the Compass works from the inside out. The brand is basically building a structure and process towards finding the right way to reach their audience. At this point you've figured out who you're reaching and how best to do so. Now that you're going to be in their face in a somewhat noticeable fashion, you need to look at the way you're going to have them pay attention - and, as typical with marketing, that would be through a user's emotions. Solis believes that the social web is powered by people and that in order for branding to succeed, companies are going to need to "establish a human and emotional connection". So what is the Social Marketing Compass going to direct brands to?

• Reciprocation - give back what you get. This is a sign towards your customers that shows you respect them and are grateful for their interest and purchase.
• Empathy - making sure that you understand why someone is buying your product and why they support your brand. It's not just because they need your product. Learn to relate.
• Recognition - make sure that you acknowledge what your customers are doing and show them some appreciation.
• Core values - this specific attribute means that we'll need to show that the brand and actions stand for something - is it integrity? Environmentalism? Civil Rights? Clean technology?
• Resolution - show customers that your product can solve a problem that their having.
• Empowerment - the customer has the authority to accomplish something that they weren't able to before.
• Humanization - Solis says it best: "The social web is alive and powered by our ability to identify with others through direct interaction..." Products and brands are no longer just material items that people will buy. Enough with materialism. Talk to them like they're human.
• Honesty - don't lie and be virtuous in all your communications.
• Reward - while they might appreciate being recognized for their purchase, some people may need that extra incentive.
• Value proposition - what are customers getting out of using your product?
• Believability - is your brand passionate, exuberant and contagious? What can your customers believe in?
• Sincerity - earn your customers' trust.

And there you have it...the perfect guide to help point you in the right direction. Just like the Conversation Prism, Brian Solis has created a new concept that brands could use to help evaluate their social media plans. How do you assess your social media marketing strategy? Next time, make sure you take a look at these steps outlined above to help make sure your objectives are met.